4 factors that could push Rangers to become surprise trade deadline buyers

We're well into June, and it is time to look at where the Texas Rangers sit and whether they will be buying at the trade deadline in order to strengthen parts of their team heading into the second half of the season and, hopefully, beyond into postseason play.

As of June 10, Chris Young and the organization are definitely looking to buy at the deadline. Here are the four reasons why they will be actively adding to the roster ahead of the August 3 cutoff.

The AL West is open for the taking, and the Rangers could be one or two key players away from winning the division

The AL West is perhaps the worst division in the entire league this year. Only the Seattle Mariners are above .500 at 36-32. The Rangers are right behind them at 32-34, just 3 games back and on the cusp of a wild-card berth.

With the parity that has hit the league in 2026, there is no way that ownership and President of Baseball Operations Chris Young can justify not going all in as long as they stay close to the wild-card. Despite having won their last three series, the team needs a legit third starter and another bat to strengthen an offense that is in the bottom third of the league in runs scored.

There are a slew of quality arms that will likely be available at the deadline, including Joe Ryan, Freddy Peralta, Michael Wacha, Sandy Alcantara, and Seth Lugo. All of these guys would be an improvement over the wildly inconsistent MacKenzie Gore.

Some of the hitters that are realistic for the Rangers to be looking to purchase include old-school former three-time batting champion Luis Arraez, catcher Adley Rutschman, the speedy Ketel Marte, and slugger Eugenio Suarez.

The Rangers are finally completely healthy and have shown that they can compete for a postseason slot

Getting Corey Seager and Wyatt Langford back was huge for this team moving forward. Now that the team has all of their offensive weapons healthy and in the lineup every day, we will get to see exactly how good this lineup is in 2026.

Josh Smith is also tearing it up at Frisco and will come back soon. It begs the question of who will become the utility man when he does return, as Ezequiel Duran is having an All-Star caliber first half and doesn't show any signs of slowing down. Smith has always been at his best as the Swiss Army knife of this squad, and Skip Schumaker should return him to that role and not mess with Duran's sizzling hot bat.

Even without Seager, Langford, and Smith, the Rangers managed to play one of the toughest schedules in baseball and stay close to .500. Let's see what they can do with a full lineup.

A rebuild is not on the horizon for this group anytime soon, with the way this roster is constructed

The Rangers gave away a massive chunk of their tradeable minor leaguers to get MacKenzie Gore here, leaving them with very few options to trade that aren't major-league assets. But if you look at the Rangers' roster, it is chock-full of injury-prone players in their thirties.

Corey Seager, Brandon Nimmo, Joc Pederson, Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Jake Burger, and Kyle Higashioka are all in their at least 30 years old, with Seager, deGrom, Eovaldi, and Burger having proven that they are susceptible to injury. Many of these guys are signed to big-money, multi-year deals, which, when combined with their injury history, make them tough to move.

Meanwhile, the few younger veterans who are appealing to potential contenders are two guys who have had surprise starts to their seasons in Josh Jung and Ezequiel Duran. With both of these infielders far outperforming their career norms, they might not fetch what their stat lines suggest they should, and with both under team control through 2028 it doesn't make much sense for Texas to move them now.

Maybe there are some GMs out there who would be willing to take a chance on guys like deGrom or Seager, but the Rangers wouldn't make them available if they were going all in on 2026.

With the AL West being down this year, the Rangers have to look at it as an opportunity to strike one last time, as the window for this group led by deGrom, Eovaldi, and Seager is almost shut. The time to act is now. while there is still a glimmer of hope.

The Rangers have one of the easiest remaining schedules in the league

Don't think for a minute that Chris Young and his associates aren't aware that the toughest part of their schedule is behind them. They know that the remaining docket is one of the easiest to navigate in the majors.

The winning percentage of the teams that the Rangers have to face over the summer is .485 - the third easiest in the league. They have games left against the Royals, Angels, Red Sox, Giants, Twins, Tigers, and Mets. All of these teams are significantly under .500.

We'll see if the Rangers are battle-tested after the most difficult opening 60 games and can take advantage of a relatively easy final 90 games.

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